


Interlude 1 > 2: Sentinels

by Nightlit



Series: Alternate X [2]
Category: X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Original, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 11:32:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19356187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightlit/pseuds/Nightlit
Summary: Short snippets from the year between Arc 1: The X Men and Arc 2: Castaways of Alternate X about the origins of the Sentinels.





	Interlude 1 > 2: Sentinels

**A Month After Solan’s Injury**

Edward sits next to Solan on the couch as he turns on the news. Solan sighs as Edward refuses to look at him. He realizes its his wheelchair that his uncle is avoiding, but that wheelchair is a permanent feature in his life now. “What did you want me to see?” He asks.

Edward frowns as he glances at Solan. He feels bad about it, but despite going to great lengths to make sure Solan can access everywhere in the house, even places he’d have little reason to go, he still can’t look at his nephew’s wheelchair. All it does is remind him of how he failed. How he failed to protect him.

“You’ll see.” Edward responds.

A moment later Edward’s interview appears on the screen, “Here we have Senator Edward Kelly, who has stepped up to the forefront in how to handle the mutant issue after they’re existence was revealed to the world last month. First, we wanted to offer our condolences to your nephew for his injury.” Edward hears Solan sigh at that, and it’s a sigh of resignation. He’s hoping to show him that he has support.

The Edward on the screen responds, “Yes. And I want to say that was a tragic accident. It was not an act of terrorism, or anything nefarious. It was simply a couple of boys doing what boys do. The only difference was, most boys can’t fly. I want to reiterate, I hold no ill will towards Warren or his family, nor do I condone any actions taken against them or their company. They have done plenty of good for this country, we shouldn’t forget that.”

He takes a deep breath, “But, that does not mean we should do nothing. We now know that this is not an isolated incident. There is a growing generation of teenagers with abilities they have the potential to be irresponsible with. Or that they might not even have full control over. It’s only a matter of time before something like this happens again. We must find some way of mitigating this, for their sake as well as those around them.”

The newscaster asked him, “What would you say to those people who talk of profiling and mutant rights?”

The Edward on screen responds, “I do not wish to invalidate or go against anyone’s rights. The mutant population in this country, however small it might be, are still American citizens. I do not condone profiling them anymore than I condone profiling anyone else. My goal is to ensure the safety of everyone, mutants included.”

The newscaster nods, “And what is your plan for this?”

The Edward on screen nods, “For one, I think it’s important for people to just be aware. Beyond that, we need to start working on a set of laws regarding the use and abuse of mutant abilities. We’re drawing things up right now, but as you can guess, it’s not an easy thing. It’s an issue we are taking very seriously.

“I can’t go into the specifics. There are a lot of different opinions and we are doing our best to come up with the most equitable solution we can. We don’t want to give anyone any false impressions about how the laws will be. I personally hope we have a bill signed into law by the end of the year, but of course, I can’t make any guarantees.”

The news caster nods again, “We don’t have a lot of time left, but what would you say to the audience?”

“I would say to everyone watching that we need to come together as a community on this one. This is something new, and new things often scare people. But this is not an emergency, nor is anyone in immediate danger. Please remember that mutants have lived among us for some time now, so don’t do anything rash. If you find out your neighbor is a mutant, remember that they always were, and if they haven’t hurt you up until now, they have little reason to do so.”

The news caster nods, “Thank you Senator. That was Senator Edward...”

Edward turns to Solan, “So?”

Solan sighs, “It was great.” Edward can tell from Solan’s tone that he doesn’t think that, but he’s trying. He’s not sure what to do with his nephew now.

“Any thoughts?” Edward asks.

“If you don’t blame Warren, than why won’t you let me see him?” Solan asks.

Edward sighs, “If it were up to me, you would be able to see him. But your parents are adamantly against it.”

Solan turns away and grumbles. “Why do you think I live here.”

Edward knows his brother and his wife have become avid supporters of mutant registration ever since the incident. He isn’t sure where he stands on that. On the one hand, having a registrar of mutants and their abilities would make it much easier to keep track of the potential dangers they represent. But that could also be used for profiling. As scared as he might be, he’s not ready to support that. Not yet.

**Meanwhile**

“Why does everything he says sound dipped in honey to me?” Jean says to everyone. After hearing about Solan’s accident, everyone at the Xavier institute sat down to watch the admittedly short interview.

“That’s how all politicians sound.” Logan responds. “I don’t trust him, but he didn’t say anything unreasonable.”

Ororo nods, “Considering what happened to his nephew, we’re lucky he’s not railing against us.”

Scott shakes his head, “I don’t know. There’s something ominous about a lot of the things he said. Like, sure, most boys can’t fly. But plenty of people fall off balconies. You don’t need to have powers to get yourself injured.”

“While you have a point Scott, it’s not as simple as that. Warren’s powers were likely the reason they were up there to begin with. If they were just a couple of normal boys, it’s unlikely they’d be goofing off on that balcony.” Charles responds.

Jean smiles at the end, “Maybe he’s not so bad after all?”

Ororo nods, “I’m glad to see he’s advocating cooperation.”

Logan shakes his head, “Or fear. If you strip the honey away, he’s basically saying: don’t antagonize the people with super powers.”

Scott turns to him, “Is that so unreasonable?”

Logan shrugs, “Naw. He’s right. I’m just saying the cooperation thing might have been the honey.”

Charles nods, “I hope he means what he says, but I also think we must take precautions.”

Piotr speaks, “I hope Solan is okay.”

Jean looks down, “He was a nice kid.”

“I wish there was a way for us to find out.” She looks at Charles. “But I don’t think there is.”

“What did you think of the speech?” Scott asks.

Piotr shrugs, “Speech is speech. We can only wait and see if his actions follow his words.”

The group nods at that before they separate for the evening.

**A Few Weeks Later**

Edward never liked going to military facilities, especially secret ones run by private industries, so when he got the invitation from Trask industries, he was skeptical. Still, Trask is a profitable, state of the art weapons tech company. Staying on their good side seems like a good move.

The elevator he’s on is huge, more like a construction lift than an elevator, and he wonders why they’d need a lift that huge. Particularly since it’s taking them down underground. Secret underground laboratories are also something not high on his list, but he’s already here.

He’d gotten his invitation from Bolivar Trask himself, but he hadn’t seen the man yet. He hopes Trask will show up soon, or he’ll just leave. The bill is being more difficult to finalize than he thought. And though he supports it, there are a number of people in the senate that are asking for far harsher sanctions on mutants than he is comfortable with. Of course, he’s also not on the side of those who want the law to do almost nothing at all either. In some ways, the creepiness of the underground facility is a breath of fresh air compared to the constant stress of the senate floor.

“Ah! Senator Kelly! Welcome.” A man about his age says when the list touches down in an extremely large underground chamber. “I am Bolivar Trask. I’m glad you could make it.” He offers a handshake.

Edward nods and takes Trask’s hand, “Edward Kelly.”

Trask motions for Edward to follow him and walks towards a small door on the side of the room, “So senator, I’ll get right to the point. I’m here to speak with you about a concern I know we both share: mutants. While I know they were made public only few months ago, I have known about them for quite some time. Now I realize you are more moderate than many other senators, and may find what I have to say a bit extreme, but I would like you to give me the benefit of the doubt, after all, you’ve seen first hand the tragedy mutants can wrought.”

Edward thins his eyes. He isn’t sure he likes where this conversation is going, “Mister Trask, while I agree that mutants are a danger, I don’t think I can approve of your tone.”

Trask nods, “I am not surprised. You see, you still see them as a subset of humanity. But I’ll tell you the truth. There are mutants out there, powerful ones, who see themselves as a new species. The next evolution of humanity. And the unfortunate truth is, if we do nothing about it, they’ll be right.”

Edward shakes his head, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Trask leads him to a room full of computers and brings up a visual of a strand of DNA, “This, my friend, is the gene that creates mutants. Now, most mutations are unstable. We end up with mutated DNA in our cells almost constantly, what sets this gene apart?” Edward raises an eyebrow in response, “Though the gene appears initial as a result of mutation, it is quite resilient to it. There is also a high incidence of it spontaneously occurring in individuals. Why this is we’re uncertain about, but we do know that it can appear in anyone, of any age, even when there was no clue that it was there before.”

Edward’s eyes widen, “But… that shouldn’t be possible. If a mutation happened in a single cell of a grown person, it shouldn’t spread through the entire body should it?”

Trask nods, “You’re right, normally that would be exceedingly unlikely. But we believe that cells with the mutant gene have the ability to clone their DNA and pass it to other cells. This is not unprecedented. There are bacteria that use this method to quickly pass advantageous DNA to each other in order to more quickly strengthen the next generation.

“Once in the new cell, it integrates itself with that cells DNA. That cell then continues the process until the entire genome of the victim has been changed.”

“Victim?” Edward asks.

Trask nods, “Yes. The side effects of the mutant gene are not always positive, so victim is an appropriate term.” He turns away, “But that is not what we’re here to discuss. While a mutant may look human, they are not.”

He brings up an image of a teenager with midnight blue hair on his head and dark blue fur over the rest of his body. His hands have three fingers and he has a tail with a point on the end. He has pointed ears and the expression on his face is cold, completing the demonic looking visage. “This is a boy from Germany. He was born with these features.”

Edward begins to sweat a bit. As much as Warren reminds him of an angel, this boy reminds him of a demon. He tries to tell himself that is just a person with a physical manifestation, but he can’t quite make himself believe that.

Trask brings up another still image, this time of a boy smiling happily with his arms raised in a pose that wouldn’t be out of place in a cartoon about wizards. The boy has dark hair and fair features, and though he reminds Edward of Solan, the boy could really be anyone. Except for the fact that there’s a visible sphere of wind floating a basket ball in front of him.

“In your interview you mentioned how most boys can’t fly. Well, flying is nothing compared to what some mutants can do. If he can manipulate the air to such a degree that he can lift a basketball, what else do you think he could do? Lift a person into the air and drop them? Or perhaps simply move the air away from them so they asphyxiate.” Edward’s eyes widen at that.

Trask loads something else, a video this time. “And that’s not even the worst of it.” Edward gulps as he watches the video. A perfectly ordinary seeming man in a suit walks out of a building labeled City Hall. The man walks around into a near by alley, before his entire body changes before Edward’s eyes. Even the man’s clothes are no more as a beautiful young woman wearing a white gown walks through the alley and out of the view of the camera.

Trask looks at Edward, “So you see.”

Edward slowly swallows, “Why are you showing me this?” He asks.

Trask nods, “Because I believe you work for the betterment of the American people, not just your own ego. It’s true, I could have went to one of the more conservative senators on this topic. Certainly there are those I could easily convince, but I believe we need a hand that is thinking about more than just their political career. We need someone who will take the lead. Someone who cares more about what is best for our country than what it looks like on the polls.”

Edward thins his eyes, “I won’t be coerced.”

Trask smiles, “I certainly hope not. You see, I have a project I’ve been working on ever since I first heard reports of super human activity. Mutants simply forced me to speed up the process.” He turns to face a window opening up to the giant open area the lift had lowered into. “You see, we need a way to protect the general population from super human violence. What I have developed may be specifically made with mutants in mind, but they will also help us prevent things like the battles Spider Man has with the various freaks that cause so much property damage in New York City or the rampage of the giant hulking green man, who as far as we know, is still at large.”

The entire wall opposite the window opens slowly, and Edward’s eyes widen at what is revealed. A tall humanoid robot, about the size of a two story building. “I would like to introduce you to, the Sentinel. This one is being piloted by a specialist who has specifically trained for this, but we are working on an artificial intelligence for the mass production model.” He turns to Edward, “Though of course the human piloted model will be made also. Though this Sentinel is not equipped with any weaponry currently, there are slots in its chest, arms and legs for modular weaponry, allowing us to customize each Sentinel to a specific desired task.” He let’s out a smile, “They even could be equipped with other tools. Though they were developed for combating super powered threats, they have more mundane applications.”

Edward shakes his head, “Isn’t this a bit extreme?”

Trask looks at him, “Extreme situations require extreme responses. We have completed the testing. We have designed the facilities. All we need now is the budget necessary for production.”

Edward looks down, “I’ll have to think about it, okay? This isn’t a decision I can make on a whim.”

Trask nods, “Of course. But don’t take too long. As you said, it’s not a matter of if there’s another tragedy, it’s a matter of when. And though what happened with Solan was an accident, how long do you think it will be before some mutant makes a violent crime? Let me remind you of an old saying: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Edward gulps, “Like I said, I’ll have to think about it.”

**A Month Later**

Nick Fury stares down at the head of the department of defense, “What do you mean, you’re cutting my budget? We just started working on our anti-Mutant response units! Not to mention the Avengers initiative.”

“I thought you were informed. The anti-Mutant response unit has been moved to another department. As for the Avengers initiative, you’ll just have to make due. We have to prioritize things that are happening on our home soil before we can worry about things that affect the world.” She says.

“We live in this world right?” Nick responds evenly.

She nods, “That’s true, but we can’t budget SHIELD policing the entire planet. The Avengers initiative is a great idea, but you’ll have to work with what we can afford.”

Nick let’s out an irritated sigh, “So where is the budget being moved to, if you don’t mind me asking?”

She shakes her head, “That’s top secret. All I can tell you is that it’s the replacement for the anti-Mutant response unit and leave it at that. I’m sorry Nick, but it’s out of my hands. This is an order coming directly from the president. It’ll be ratified by congress as well.”

Nick shakes his head, “I guess I’ll have to. But next time you ask me to kill a super soldier, you better remember I need the budget to do it!”

She sighs, “You’re the best of the best. You’ll figure it out.”

Nick sighs again, “Is there anything else?”

She shakes her head, “No.”

“Then I have to go. I apparently have work to do changing my whole budget around!” He snipes. She hangs up in response.

Nick thinks for a moment before he makes a call, “Agent Hill, I need you to...”

Maria Hill’s face appears over the comms, “I’m already on it general. The funds are being moved to Trask Industries’ Sentinel project.”

Nick swears to himself, “Are they trying to start a war?”

Maria Hill retains her stoic expression, “Regarding the Avengers initiative.”

Nick shakes his head, “You think we should drop the Avengers initiative after what you just reported?”

“No sir, I suppose not. But, with our budget cut by almost twenty percent, we don’t have a lot of options.” She responds.

Nick grabs the edge of his desk so hard he can feel his fingers start to bruise, “Alright, I want you to talk to Cap, see what he thinks. I also need you to adjust the budget. I’ll make final adjustments to it later.”

Maria raises an eyebrow, “What will you be doing sir?”

Nick sighs, “I have someone I have to meet, before shit hits the fan.”

Maria nods, “Acknowledged sir.”

After Maria hangs up Nick makes one more call. When the man he’s looking for appear on the monitor he starts. “Charles, you aren’t gonna like this...”

**Later That Day**

Charles Xavier stands on the roof of a random apartment building in New York City with Logan. “What am I doing here?” Logan asks, irritated.

Charles shakes his head, “I don’t know Logan. But Nick said I should bring you and no one else.”

Logan looks at him, “What do you see in that guy?”

Charles looks up at him, “I understand that you don’t like him very much, and I do have misgivings about what he does. But I do believe he is ultimately working for the greater good, even if I don’t agree with every decision he makes.”

Logan shakes his head, “I hope so Chuck.”

A moment later a traffic helicopter lands on the roof and the familiar man steps out of it. “I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll make this brief.” He pulls a small bit of cloth out of his pocket and walks over to Charles, “You’ll want this. It’s made of a fiber that can prevent DNA scanners from getting a clear reading of a person’s genome.” He hands Charles a flash drive, “On here is all the information about how to make it, including all the required materials.”

Logan thins his eyes, “Why are you giving this to us?”

Nick gives him a glare, “Because I don’t want you getting caught in the cross hairs of what’s about to happen.” He then tosses Logan a flash drive, “Read it or not, it’s a letter from Steve Rogers.”

Logan stares down at it, “Steve who?”

Nick chuckles, “So you don’t remember. That figures.” He shrugs, “Read it or not, I don’t give a fuck.”

Though the name doesn’t ring a bell, something about it being a letter pulls at something in his head, but no memory takes shape. “Why’d you give it to me then?”

Nick shrugs, “Steve told me to keep it, and give it to you only in an emergency. But this might be the last time I see you when we aren’t enemies. I couldn’t have not giving it to you on my conscious. Got too many other things to worry about.”

Logan shakes his head, “Why am I not surprised.”

Nick continues to talk as he walks off, “Charles, the next time I see you, we might be enemies.”

Charles shakes his head, “I thought you supported mutant rights.”

Nick sighs again, “I took an oath to defend the American people and uphold international law. Whatever my personal feelings might be, I will not turn this country into a military dictatorship. I will do everything within my power to ensure mutants get a fair deal, but if the American people decide to put you on their shit list, my hands are tied.”

Charles sighs, “Thank you for this.”

“Think nothing of it. I’m just saving myself some trouble.” He turns his head so Charles can see his good eye and grins, “So do me a favor and don’t get caught, will ya?" He then steps onto the helicopter and is gone.

Logan shakes his head, “I really hate that guy.”

Charles looks down at the fabric in his hands, “But he may have just saved our lives.”

Logan grumbles, “I know. I hate owing him even more.”

Charles turns his wheelchair around, “We should get on this. We don’t know how much time we have.”

Logan nods, then takes a look down at the second flash drive, “Any ideas what this is about?”

Charles thinks for a moment, “You don’t know who Steve Rogers was, do you?”

Logan looks at him, “You do?”

Charles nods, “It’s somewhat surprising that you don’t. Steve Rogers was Captain America.”

Logan looks down at the flash drive, “Why would Captain America write a letter to me?”

Charles thinks for a moment, “I don’t know.”

Logan raises an eyebrow, “Ya aren’t gonna ask the question of how a man who should have been dead for over twenty years wrote me a letter?”

Charles chuckles, “If my experience has taught me anything, it’s not to question mysteries surrounding you. Especially mysteries surrounding your past.”

Logan looks down at the flash drive, “Sometimes I wish I could just ignore it, ya know?”

Charles nods, “I know my friend.”

Logan moves behind Charles and starts to wheel him towards the elevator, “I have a bad feeling about this entire meetin’ Chuck.”

Charles sighs, “Unfortunately, so do I.”

**Months Later**

Solan stares in horror at his uncle and parents showing a picture of him smiling alongside another one of him frowning in his wheelchair in front of a poster of a Sentinel. The anti-Mutant police that are being revealed to the public as they speak.

“Mom! Dad! Uncle Ed!” He yells.

Edward runs into the room, alarmed at Solan’s tone. “Your parents left already.”

Solan points at the television, “What is that!” He yells.

Edward blinks, “Those are Sentinels.”

Solan thins his eyes at him, “I know that. Why is my picture there in front of them?”

“Solan, we thought you’d be thrilled. This way both mutants and humans will see that the Sentinels are meant to protect them.” Edward reasons.

“How do two story tall robots protect anyone?” Solan asks incredulously.

Edward sighs, “You’ll understand when you’re older. For now, just know that this is for the best.”

Solan wheels himself away, “Well, next time leave me out of it!”

**A Year After The Fateful Day**

Saint John Allerdyce stares at the roaring inferno that was one the house he was staying at. He hadn’t meant to cause this. He was just angry and the asshole had brought him into the kitchen where his bitch of a wife happened to be cooking dinner. He could feel it happening, feel the fire under the stove react to his anger. He tried to tell them to stop, but they wouldn’t listen. The assholes’ fists and the bitch’s sniping comments from where she was stirring the stew were the last straw.

The fire had jumped to her first and she’d screamed. The man had been shocked, until he realized John was doing it. The man tried to kill him then, but the fire reacted faster than he could filling the room. John had been scared he would hurt himself, until he realized the flames couldn’t burn him. He was standing in the middle of an inferno that filled the entire kitchen, and more than being hurt, the fire felt right. He’d watched in morbid fascination as they burned alive.

He knew at the time he was probably fucked. He hadn’t intended to kill them, even if they probably deserved it, but what was done was done. He tried to put the fire out, but it had spread beyond what he could contain leaving him where he is now, staring at the blazing inferno in front of him with nothing to do but wait for a Sentinel to put him out of his miserable existence.

Part of him wants to run, but he knows it will do him no good. He can’t possibly get far enough away. The other part just wants to stare, stare at the fire that calls out to him even as he stands there.

The ground vibrates and he shields his face from light shining into his face. The familiar sensation of a Sentinel landing next to him. The unfamiliar sensation of it lifting it’s hands and pointing them at him. The hands that mean his death.

Then a reddish blast comes from the sky, cutting off the arm at the shoulder. The Sentinel turns only for a huge bolt of lightning ti blast thought it, despite a completely clear sky. The Sentinel fells away from him, crushing some bushes in the neighbors yard.

“Heya kid,” A female voice says from behind him. He turns to see a redheaded girl wearing a black jumpsuit.

“What’s it to you?” John says. Bewildered and wary.

The girl grins, “Not much.” She blinks and looks at the fire, “You cause this?”

John thins his eyes at her, “Why do you care?”

The girl shakes her head, “Cause I think you might wanna make it stop.” John looks back at it. Making it stop is the last thing on his mind. “Or you could not give a shit, that works to.”

She looks up in the sky, “Did it call for its buddies? Maybe we’ll be lucky this time.”

John shakes his head, “It doesn’t matter. I’m screwed.”

She tilts her head to the side, “So, here’s the thing. I can leave you here and you can take your chances with the Sentinels, or you can take your chances with me.”

John raises his eyebrow at her, “You?”

She thinks for a moment, “Well, not just me. But yeah.” She looks up, “Just a moment now.”

John feels a drop of water hit his nose, and then the rain picks up. The rain is cool, but not cold. Maybe even tropical, which is not how rain typically is around there. He watches as the rain lands on the fire and realizes he can feel the fire being put out. He feels that he could try to cause the fire to fight being put out by the rain, but he resists the urge.

He stares in wonder as the rain picks up in intensity only over his house, still a light drizzle everywhere else, until the fire is drenched into oblivion. He feels it when the last flame goes out as a void where the fire used to be. Even that isn’t an entirely unpleasant experience, he realizes.

The girl looks down at him, “So, last chance. Sentinels or lil’ ol’ me?”

John looks at the house, “Did you do that?”

The girl blinks, “I wish. But if you come with me, you can meet who did.”

John blinks at her, “Sure.”

A huge grin appears on her face, “Awesome.”

With that a rope latter falls out of the sky and she grabs onto it, “Look, I know this is a bit low tech. We’ve been trying to get an upgrade for years.”

John shrugs, “Whatever.” He grabs the ladder and starts to climb.

As soon as he’s high enough she grabs the latter below him and says, “Hold on!” The ladder is quickly pulled up into the night sky.

A woman with dark skin, but strangely white hair given her skin tone and apparent age pulls him up into a plane of some sort. His eyes widen when the girl floats up behind him pulling the ladder with her.

“The Sentinels would probably be here if they got a tip, but better not to chance it.” The girl says.

“I concur.” The woman says and the door to the jet closes.

The woman turns to him, “You’re safe now. The Sentinels won’t be able to find you aboard this ship.”

John blinks, “Who are you?”

The girl grins, “We’re the X-Men.”


End file.
